Equilibrium *** (2002, Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs) – Classic Movie Review 1554

Writer-director Kurt Wimmer’s intriguing futuristic 2002 thriller is set in a fascist future, where the state has suppressed human emotions by banning books, art and music and punishing feelings by death.

Christian Bale stars as cleric John Preston, the top ranking government agent and executioner who resumes human emotions when he misses his dose of Prozium, a mind-altering drug that hinders emotion, and takes up with the rebel forces against the reactionary Big Brother-style government to overthrow the system.

An extremely fit-looking Bale makes a very decent action hero in this ambitious, stylish-looking mix of the Wachowski siblings’ The Matrix and George Orwell’s 1984. If it comes over as a modest achievement and ultimately forgettable, it’s still enjoyable and engrossing while it’s on screen.

A miscast Emily Watson is lost as Mary O’Brien, the girl of Bale’s dreams, but Sean Pertwee enjoys himself as the Big Brother figure, Father. Sean Bean, Angus MacFadyen, Taye Diggs, Matthew Harbour and William Fichtner co-star. Wimmer has a cameo as Rebel Victim.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1554

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